Scandalous Preschool

I'm not sure how to approach this topic, because I'm probably breaking confidentiality rules. If I don't name names, it will probably be a lot easier. And, frankly, names don't need to be named, because it would just make the situation that much more ridiculous.

I have been working at a preschool/quasi-primary school for about six weeks now. During this period, there has been a sex scandal. About a dozen children (more or less 15% of the school) have been withdrawn by their parents. The reasons for this vary depending on who you ask. If you ask the school administration, it's because another parent wanted to open up her own school. If you ask the parents, it's because they don't trust the school's administration. And they don't trust the school's administration because of a) the aforementioned sex scandal and b) the fact that an assistant gave a sleeping kid to the wrong adults at pickup time.

Now, you may ask, how the hell could an assistant give a kid to the wrong parents? In the six weeks I have been working, there has been a 100% turnover of assistants. They are stuck dealing with, and trying to discipline, a bunch of spoiled brats who don't care about much except Spiderman. Not all the kids are like that, of course. There are a lot of really good, cute, smart,
well-behaved students.

But the ones the assistants get stuck with are the ones who, frankly, suck. Who will grow up to
be the smartasses who frustrate everyone who has to work with them, who may or may not straighten themselves out (despite or because of Daddy's money.) And, here at least, these kids hit their teachers and their assistants. I've been hit by 3 or 4 kids, and the assistants have it much, much worse. I don't know what their pay is like, but I imagine it's a lot worse than mine. And I am getting four thousand pesos per month to put up with this crap. So, say the aides make three thousand, which is reasonable enough as a wage for fairly uneducated labor, but absolutely not reasonable considering their actual job.

I would agree with the parents that the administration is incompetent. I get no help, and they hired me knowing that I had no teaching experience. The on-staff psychiatrist and academic coordinator have offered to help, but they are never around. There are staff meetings once a month. Last month's included an hour-long presentation from a bank. The agenda is not determined by what we need to talk about, because, frankly, the administration does not ask us what we need to talk about.

So, what should I do? I should probably also mention that my immediate supervisor quit regarding the aforementioned sex scandal (which deserves a whole entry of its own, and will have one soon) and they now need a primary school English teacher. So, I'm the only full-time Englishy teacher on staff for a school that offers “bilingual” education.

...In happier news, I slept a combined total of 23 hours this weekend.